Alcoholism in Australia - Essay Example

? The following is an analysis of the health issue of 'alcoholism' in Australia. This analysis will begin with an overview of the problem as expressed in the statistical data for Australia. Particular attention will be paid to the amounts of alcohol consumed by Australians, but more importantly, the focus will be placed on the 'consequences' of the problem. In turn, the overview of the statistical information of the problem will be followed with an analysis of two sociological perspectives. The latter part of this essay will look at the functionalist perspective, and symbolic interactionism as two approaches to deviance that are useful models for explaining alcoholism. It will be argued that as a social phenomenon, alcohol consumption is on the rise in Australia, and at risky or dangerous levels. Alcoholism is a health problem that effects a relatively high percentage of individuals within most populations. Problem drinking is somewhat hard to define, and it is generally measured not in terms of how much alcohol is consumed or how often, but rather, what kind of consequences result. In Australia, approximately 3,000 individuals day annually because of alcoholism [Chrikritzhs et. al., 1999, 23], and it can be said that left untreated, this is a fatal health problem. Some of the other significant health problems that Australian's face as a consequence of alcoholism, include medical conditions such as cirrhosis of the liver, inflammation of the gut and pancreas, heart and circulatory problems, sleep disorders, male impotency, eye diseases and conditions, and alcohol dependence. Alcohol abuse also increases the risk of cancer, which includes cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus, breast cancer and bowel cancer [National Health and Medical Research Council, 2007, p. 28-9]. In a study focused on South Australia, and the health effects of alcohol, it was reported that: during 2004/05, over 6 750 hospitalizations in South Australia were attributable to alcohol and in 2005, 280 deaths in South Australia were attributable to alcohol [Pascal, Chikritzhs, and Jones, 2009, p. 11]. Because alcohol effects judgment, coordination and other mental functions, the response time for decisions is severely diminished, causing in turn, other problems such as driving impairment. Further, there is an increase in a variety of mental health problems associated with alcoholism, and there is also an association or correlation between alcohol abuse and the abuse of other narcotics. Again, because of the lowered capacity for judgment, someone under the influence of alcohol will make the type or form of evaluations that are far from being in the best-interest of the individual in question. For women who are pregnant, there are significant health risks associated with alcohol abuse, especially if the alcohol is used or abused in the first trimester of the pregnancy. Alcohol abuse can cause significant damage to a pregnant woman's fetus and in the more extreme cases, 'fetal alcohol syndrome' might result. FAS or fetal alcohol syndrome, results in birth defects. Very often children who are born with FAS have physical deformities that very often effect the face of the individual, and likewise too, this often results in a diminished mental capacity and even retardation [National Preventative Health Taskforce (NPHT) 2008, p.12]. Alcoholism is a world-wide problem, and Australia is no exception. In 2008, the Government of Australia took some forward steps toward curbing the growth of dangerous rates of alcohol consumption. Australia introduced an “excise tax” on pre-mixed spirits, so that it would be in line with the same tax rate for non-mixed spirits. The intention of this measure, was to improve “public health outcomes” in Australia.[Doran and Shakeshaft, 2008, p. 701] What is important about this government measure, is that it is a very public acknowledgment that alcoholism or 'alcohol dependency' is a problem in Australia. Indeed, some of the statistics concerning alcohol consumption in Australia are alarming. In 2006, Australians purchased and consumed just over $ 28.8 Billion dollars, and this is a 47 % increase in consumption per person or per capita from 1997 when sales and consumption was $ 19.6 Billion dollars. In the 2007, the Australian Government commissioned a study to measure the consumption of alcohol, and the resulting report was the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. This was was first published in 2008, and some of the highlights of this report which reflect the current rates of alcohol consumption in Australia, are summarized in the following: The proportion of the population drinking daily fell significantly (from 8.9% to 8.1%) between 2004 and 2007 whereas the average age at which people had their first full serve of alcohol (17 years of age) remained stable. Nine out of every ten Australians aged 14 years or older (89.9%) had tried alcohol at some time in their lives and 82.9% had consumed alcohol in the 12 months preceding the 2007 survey. One in 17 (5.7%) admitted to verbally abusing someone while under the influence of alcohol. The proportion of teenagers drinking at least weekly was around 22%. Males aged 20-29 years (17.2%) were the most likely group to consume alcohol at risky or high-risk levels for short-term harm at least weekly. More than a quarter (26.3%) of 14-19-year-olds put themselves at risk of alcohol-related harm in the short term at least once a month during the previous 12 months; higher among females of this age (28.3%) than males (24.5%). Overall, about one third (34.6%) of persons aged 14 years or older put themselves at risk or high risk of alcohol-related harm in the short term on at least one drinking occasion during the previous 12 months [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008]. In regard to the most general data about the rates of consumption, Australians drink a lot of alcohol and consume this with a concerning rate of frequency as well. In the year of this survey, the per capita consumption of alcohol for Australians over the age of 15 years is close to 10 liters, and this is, by world standards, pretty high. And, among Australians the use of alcohol is very widespread. For example, just greater than 90% of all Australians over the age of 14 in 2007 consumed alcohol over their lifetime (an estimated 14.2 million people), 40% drank alcohol weekly, and 8% drank daily [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008]. Although, many young Australians consume alcohol regularly, the highest proportion of daily drinkers in 2007 were individuals who were 60 years old and older [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008]. Among the various populations represented in the statistical overview of alcohol consumption, some demographic groups raise more concern than others. For instance, there has been a dramatic increase in the consumption of alcohol among youth or young people, and this is particularly true of 'binge drinking'. As the term itself suggests, binge drinking is excessive alcohol consumption but over a short duration, such as a single evening or a weekend. Youth have a tendency to be at risk more as 'binge' drinkers, than as individuals who will drink daily and for a prolonged period. It should also be stressed that binge drinking is also very risky. Although some of the long-term consequences in terms of health are not associated with binge drinking, there is a considerable risk of death doing this, and likewise, a variety of potential problems such as alcohol poisoning. Further, and aside from the short-term problems, individuals who start consuming alcohol at a young age, are more likely to develop advanced problems when they are older [National Health and Medical Research Council, 2007, p. 28-9]. Further, the earlier an individual drinks, according to Australian data, the more frequent or greater volume, they will eventual consume in their adult years [Maggs and Schulenberg, 2005, p. 31]. Other problems concerning early onset alcohol consumption include social, health and finally, mental health issues [National Health and Medical Research Council, 2007, p. 28-9]. Some of the more significant statistical findings of alcohol consumption among youth, are as follows. First, is the onset age of drinking. In Australia, over 90 percent of all youth have at least tried alcohol by the time they reach the age of fourteen and the majority of youth have had a full drink by the time they reach the age of sixteen [National Health and Medical Research Council, 2007, p. 28-9]. This is significant when you consider that in Australia in 2004, fourteen year-olds were more than twice as likely to have had a drink than youth at the same age during the 1940's and the 1950's. [Roche, Bywood, Borlagdan, Lunnay, Freeman, Lawton, Tovell and Nicholas, 2007, p.32]. Regarding specific demographic populations in Australia, aside from youth, women and the aboriginal population likewise have experienced problems with alcohol consumption, and also, these two groups have also showed an increase rate of use as well. With respect to women in Australia, 12 % of all adult females drink at rates that are considered to be high risk levels. Further, there has been an increase in those drinking at risky/high risk levels. Since 1995, there has been a greater increase among women abusers than men. From the three National Health Surveys since 1995, the proportion of females who drank at risky/high risk levels went from 6.2% to 11.7%. By contrast, the rate of increase was from 10.3% to 15.2% for males [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008]. As for the aboriginal population, it is a fact in Australia that individuals living in remote or very remote areas are more likely to drink at risky or high risk levels than individuals who live in larger or more urban populations. Further, although a smaller proportion overall of Indigenous people drink alcohol compared to the general population, it is also the case that those who do drink among the aboriginal populations, do so at higher levels [Chikritzhs and Brady, 2006, p. 131]. While the rates of consumption are increasing in Australia, it is also the case that many of the consequences of alcoholism have likewise been measured in recent years. It is the problems that brought about by alcoholism that are the main concern of public health policy makers in the Australian government. And, likewise, some of the data that has been collected in recent years on the consequences of alcohol consumption, are alarming. With regard to alcohol consumption at rates which are considered harmful or dangerous, there are a number of problems that arise that will be outlined in the following, and these include the social and economic costs, an increase in alcohol-related crimes, and finally, the overall impact that alcoholism has on the Australian economy. This latter measure is an important one and the following statistical survey will look at that consequence of the over consumption of alcohol first, and then at some of the statistics concerning some of the health related problems along with the social problems caused by alcoholism. The overall cost to the economy of Australia because of alcoholism, is measured in terms of a variety of costs. These include the health-care costs for alcohol-related illnesses, the cost to taxpayers of criminal related activities, the cost of treatments and rehabilitation's, the cost of premature death and finally, the loss of time and productivity in the workplace due to alcohol-related abuse. The sum total of all of these costs in 2004 was $ 15.3 Billion [Collins and Lapsley, 2008, p. 19]. As a public health issue, it can be said that alcoholism is unquestionably a problem when looked at in these terms. One can imagine, for example, how many alternative ways there are to spend the fifteen billion dollars, such as health-care or education. One can see these costs add up when one considers, for example, that up to a quarter of all traffic fatalities in Australia involve a driver who was intoxicated beyond the legal limit [Taylor and Carroll, 2001, p.21. ]. Likewise with the issue of crime. There is a significant association between alcohol abuse and violent crime, and for example, in a 2003 study it was demonstrated that three out of every ten murders were committed by someone under the influence of alcohol [Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation, 2008]. In a study conducted through a holiday period of 2007, it was reported that 2.2 million Australians experienced physical or verbal abuse from someone under the influence of alcohol. And, in the same period, it was also reported that thirty percent of teenagers feared for their own personal safety because of someone around them who was under the influence of alcohol, and similarly, and from the same study, forty-five percent of teenagers between the age of 14 and 17 claimed that they knew someone who was either harmed or injured because of their excessive use of alcohol [Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation, 2008]. Having now examined the statistics of alcohol abuse in Australia, the following will analyze the problem from a sociological perspective. In the sociological literature, alcoholism generally falls under the general behaviour category of 'deviance'. Rather than approach the problem as one that is an isolated problem of an individual, sociology generally provides a framework for alcoholism that includes the wider social network of the individual. The following will examine (1) general theories of deviance as they relate to alcoholism, including traditional functionalist approaches alongside more current theories, and in turn (2) apply the theoretical frameworks in question to the forms of deviance in question. Both measuring and defining alcohol abuse as deviance are complex problems. Further, one cannot measure the amount of deviance without first defining the very phenomenon which is to be measured in the first place. Defining deviance within a sociological framework involves a number of variables. Among the central variables in question, public perception or social values, beliefs, norms, etc., rank as being the most central [Kelly, Ed., 1996: 50]. In other words, whether we explain these social attitudes in terms of ‘social class’ or in terms of ‘symbolic interactionism’ (labeling theory), it is these very attitudes that are the measure of deviance. One of the problems in terms of relying on social attitudes, even though social theory is dependent on these attitudes, is the fact that these are shaped by ‘external’ factors, and moreover, these attitudes are often erroneous. For example, while most Australians believe that crime is increasing, it is true that it is decreasing when the instances of crime are measured on a per/capita basis. In other words, when considering what society regards as deviant, one also has to consider those social forces such as the ‘media’ which go into shaping or determining the social attitudes in question. The following will bear this problem in mind in regard to discerning some of the central theories which explain the social attitudes which shape our definitions of deviance. That deviance is an extension of social attitudes, is a given in social theory. Among the more traditional or ‘functional’ schools of thought in regard to deviance, such an idea is axiomatic. For example, one prominent theorist, Emile Durkheim, maintained that deviance is entirely dependent on “social condemnation” and “common indignation” [Gomme, 1998: 71]. In general, social phenomenon are explained in a functionalist framework in terms of understanding a perceived “goal” [Gomme, 1998: 63]. Phrased in simple terms, burglaries can often be explained in terms of the goal of accumulating wealth, and in turn, a corollary to such an explanation might point to the low social strata from which most common burglars come from (corporate theft is another social strata but with a similar goal). Further, Durkheim and functionalist school argue that deviance or deviant behaviour like excessive drinking occur to greater degrees along with a number of social transformations which cause a general state of turmoil [Kelly, Ed., 1996: 50-1]. Such factors in this sense include: “social disintegration, social deregulation, and rapid social and economic change” [Gomme, 1998: 73]. Concerning alcoholism in particular, the sociologist, Albert Cohen’s theory concerning “status frustration” [Gomme, 1998: 68-9] does much to explain some the causal variables of the alcoholism in question. In the statistics examined in this analysis, deviance was associated with instances of murder, poverty and social class were central variables. If the ‘norm’ in Australia are those values of the “middle class” [Gomme, 1998: 68], and if social frustration occurs as a result of an inability to achieve these norms, then, some preliminary understanding of the problem of alcoholism as a social phenomenon, can be ascertained through a functionalist paradigm. If, for example, alcohol abuse is on the rise among individuals (people in their 20’s) and these individuals are being systemically kept out of the norm (e.g. they have significantly higher rates of unemployment), then, functionalism could also serve to explain their behaviour in terms of the general degree of social and economic disintegration, but also the frustration that ensues when individuals realize that the ‘norm’ is beyond their discernible reach. There are, however, a number of limitations to the functionalist approach. For example, how are these attitudes of the ‘norm’ or the ‘social attitudes’ both shaped, and in turn, perceived by those who can be said to be frustrated by them? Toward this end of explanation, the theory of ‘symbolic interactionism’, which is a method developed by George Herbert Mead, does much to explain both the social construction of “labeling” forms of “deviance” [Gomme, 1998: 99], but this paradigm also explains the social dynamics which are at the root of how such attitudes are disseminated, and thus acquired by any given individual in a wider social network. Expressed in terms of “social control theory”, these symbolic meanings can be viewed to cause both “inner” and “outer” controls [Gomme, 1998: 80ff.]. An inner control are those values which an individual has been socialized within, and which are assimilated and appropriated as one’s own, and outer controls are those which are more direct – the symbolic and real factors of the ‘law’ as a mainstream form of establishing what is ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ conduct, for example. Travis Hirschi, for example, outlines the complexity of socialization whereby values on a macro-level of the family and a given social class or ethnic group, become assimilated by those individuals who have been raised in those particular environments [Gomme, 1998: 82-3]. In general, the theories in question relate to one-another with respect to the centrality of ‘socialization’ as a means of explaining certain forms of behaviour, such as the ‘deviance’ involved with alcohol abuse and the accompanying behaviours. In short, the means by which these theories explain behaviour, is toward drawing upon the social or societal variables which both go into explaining the various motives behind forms of behaviour, but also toward explaining particular social backgrounds of the individuals involved. The principal differences in these theories, can be expressed more in terms of emphasis – that is, where the social forces which explain a particular ‘goal’ in functionalism (Durkheim) is emphasized, by contrast, in ‘power control’ theory, the emphasis is posited or placed on those social forces that determine aspects such as ‘class structure’ or the process of social marginalization (Mead). Defining deviance is impossible without considering how society defines deviance – deviance, so to speak, is in the eyes of the beholder. In general, this paper has both outlined four particular instances of deviance, and in turn, demonstrated how these forms of deviance can be termed as such, precisely because they are activities which exist outside or beyond the confines of what is socially considered normal. In conclusion, this analysis has provided a statistical overview of the problem of alcoholism in Australia, and in turn, described two succinct approaches to the problem from social theory. This analysis used 'functionalism' and 'symbolic interactionism' as two sociological models of explanation for alcoholism. It was argued that while alcoholism is increasing in Australia, there is no apparent single causal explanation for this increase. However, using a combination of theories, a lot of the problem was explained in terms of the social context in which it emerges and flourishes. Alcoholism, is called a 'family disease', both because it involves the entire family and because dynamics within the family often have a strong contributing influence on the problem. Works Cited: Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation 2008, Survey: Aussie drinking habits create climate of fear, media release, 4 Feb., www.aerf.com.au Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008, 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: State and Territory Supplement. AIHW cat. no. PHE 102. Canberra: AIHW. Chikritzhs, T. and M Brady, 2006, Fact or fiction? A critique of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2002, Drug and Alcohol Review, 25, pp. 277-287. Chrikritzhs et. al., 1999, Alcohol-caused deaths and hospitalizations in Australia 1990-97, National Alcohol Indicators Bulletin No. 1: National Drug Research Institute and Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Center. 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